March Newsletter

100 Marina Bay Drive P.O. Box 9008 Sylvan Lake AB T4S 1S6 www.sylvansailing.com

1. Louis Vitton & America's Cup coverage in Canada
2. Sailing Lessons (Juniors) for 2007
3. 2007 Schedule & Spring Meeting
4. A new marina!!
Hi,

My name is Rob Gale and I’m a member of RNSYS in Halifax, NS. Like many Canadian sailors and others, I have been looking forward to watching the America’s Cup on OLN or TSN as in previous years. When looking at the America’s Cup website, coverage in Canada was listed as being provided by OLN. Unfortunately, in the fall of last year, OLN in the US split from OLN Canada and is now known as Versus. They will be covering the cup but not OLN Canada. As far as I can tell, Comcast maintains part ownership in both stations. There are currently no channels in Canada that will be providing coverage of the Cup. The only way I see this changing is if TSN and OLN are made aware that this competition is of interest to many viewers across Canada.

For that reason I would ask that you send out an email to your membership asking them to send TNS and OLN an email asking for the same cup coverage in Canada as with Versus in the US.

 http://www.tsn.ca/contact/

I've been earching desperately for TV coverage of the America's Cup Race. The Louis Vitton starts on April 3rd and it is starting to look hopeless.

"Versus" is doing all the footage of the race but it is apparently not going to be available to OLN here in Canada. I am only guessing that if you have a dish & can find a satellite that carries Versus, you might be able to watch it live.

The Sail TV (site below) carries live racing & that might be a good alternative What I don't understand is why Sail TV is not providing coverage in Canada, NZ, Spain or Italy. Did we pee on their cornflakes or something??

If you can find a site that carries it live or TV that will re-broadcast the racing let me know. Better yet, find a pub that will turn thier TV to Versus so we can watch something other than hockey.
I think a live broadcast will mean drinking our beverage of choice at 8:00 AM so a re-broadcast might be preffered.

We've waited 5 years for coverage of our sport. It's ot the most extreme aspects of it, it is certainly the most expensive, it can be boreing (tho I suspect the fleet races of Act 13 won't be!), but its kinda fun, don'tcha think, to watch billionaires colliding with each other

So....if you can pass on any internet or TV coverage to me, I will post it....post haste

VIEWING THE CUP ONLINE
Sail TV has just announced that it will be broadcasting coverage of the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia online through a deal with Alcatel-Lucent, the Official New Media Provider for the event. Starting from Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 13 on April 3rd, and continuing right through to the end of America’s Cup, Sail TV plans to feature short daily Video News Release updates, and will be showing delayed, embargoed broadcasts of the official TV highlights shows, plus live images from around the venue, together with specially produced content that will be exclusive to the channel. All of this will be available as ‘Video-on-demand’ and scheduled programming. ue to pre-existing arrangements, Sail TV will not be allowing broadcasts into Canada, New Zealand, Spain or Italy, which will be blocked to viewers from these countries. Coverage of the event will be available on a 24/7 basis at http://www.sail.tv

This just came in on Monday's "Scuttlebut" and is probably the last word on the civerage we will get in Canada.

* From Chris Carroll: What does one have to do to watch the cup on television or Internet in Canada? I emailed OLN the other day to see if they were broadcasting as they did in the last Cup. This is the reply I got:
"Unfortunately, OLN will not be broadcasting coverage of this year's America's Cup or surrounding events. Regards, Your OLN team."

Not my idea of a team! OLN is affiliated with Versus in the U.S. In fact Versus bought OLN, Versus is broadcasting the Cup, maybe we have to settle for re-runs of Mantracker again. Once again Canada is shunned. Our last hope for anything was sail.tv. Now I read that it will be blocked out in Canada.
Why? Someone please help. As an avid sailor and a new Canadian, this is very frustrating. There is some great sailing up here, and contrary to popular belief, no it is not all on ice! It has thawed here and sailing is back on the minds, although the ski hills still have lots of snow so maybe we will have to just go skiing. You talk about development and greater exposure of our sport. This is the wrong way to go. I mean, seriously, I have 100 channels of TV. Surely there is room for a couple hours of sailing a day. I have to tell you I am sick of watching poker on every sports channel. Out.

Curmudgeon’s Comment: Just to clarify, nobody bought OLN in the US… they just changed their name to Versus. As for why OLN in Canada, which is not owned by the same group as Versus in the US, is not showing the ACUP coverage, it likely has to do with the fees they must pay, and the interest they perceive among their audience. Sail.tv, which will be providing ‘Video-on-demand’ and scheduled ACUP programming, told us they are blocked in Canada by America’s Cup Management (ACM), but they believe it is due to another source that will be carrying the coverage. Perhaps this source is the Versus website, which will be providing ACUP content, including streaming video.

So...that's about all of it folks. It looks like we will have to log onto Versus if you want to watch any of the action. Otherwise, you can watch poker on the Canadian sports channels!!

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News Flash!!!

Dennis Ethier & Nancy Smith have put together a "Laern-to-Sail" program for this summer. Its for kids, 10 - 17 yrs. Details at www.sylvansailing.com

Check it out if you know of any possibilities for future crew members!

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The 2007 Schedule is posted on the website. Check it out & mark your calendar appropriately.

Our Spring Meeting will be at the SL Golf Club, May 5, at 1600 hrs (that's 4:00 PM!!) with delicious banquet arranged by VC Barry Tee to follow.

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I'm just going to plant this little gem in your minds before the Spring Meeting.

It is looking very positive that a new marina will be built on the other side of the lake, and it could be as soon as this summer. The developer is wanting the SLSC to be a part of it. This couldl mean huge changes to our club...if it becomes a reality, & we should be prepared to discuss all the ramifications of it. It is likely to be more expensive than Marian Bay (Note: the Sylvan Marina will be charging 1200 - 1300 for thier new slips this year. You can probably expect the same at Marina Bay when our lease is up in 3 years!) but it could offer huge opportunities for the club to grow, and perhaps deal with other aspects of our sport than racing!
There are of course, pro's & cons. I'm sure you can think of some??